The Lunar Warrior
by Kutone
Summary: Waka was always a strange character, even amongst his fellow Moon Tribe. What is it about him that alienated him from others? Why did he long for another home? Set on the moon and the Celestial Plain, this is my interpretation of the two unknown worlds.
1. Chapter 1:  Prologue

Prologue

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><p>Alone, at last.<p>

The sun goddess had been wandering through the trees for a while now. The celestials had been hassling her about a stubborn old spirit and she needed an escape. She felt a fleeting guilt for abandoning them when they asked for guidance, but she knew her help was needed more elsewhere. And after all, she wasn't an omnipresent goddess. Her presence was felt across the heavens and the earth through the warmth of her golden sun in the sky, but she could only interact with others and witness events through her spiritual form, which walked on the celestial plain as one of the celestials.

The celestial plain was a beautiful place and the goddess's spiritual home, not that that stood for much in her heart. She did love it: she loved the cool droplets of the morning dew as she walked barefoot in the grasses of the plain; she loved the divine breeze that blew through the heavens, rustling through the trees sprinkling blossoms across the ripples in the grass and tangling her hair playfully; she loved the energy from the sacred Konohana tree, whose very roots formed the foundation for the whole heavenly land; and she loved how the very essence of the place, even the air, was so clean and pure. The land was nourishing and fruitful and the celestials were warm hearted and kind. It was a happy land where life was pure and simple.

The goddess sighed and kneeled by the surface of a small pool amidst the trees. In many ways it was her pool, for the celestials knew not to bother her when she journeyed there, although she made no such request. If there was anything she hated it was laying down rules for lives other than her own. How could they be beautiful, free spirits if she put constraints on them and attempted to shape them to her liking? The thought horrified her and she saw her reflection in the surface of the pool give a gentle shudder. She took a deep cleansing breath and gazed past her own reflection.

She closed her eyes and centred her spirit. She lay her hands gently upon the surface of the water, palms down and tried to channel her consciousness through them. As she felt her spirit breaking the bonds of her body, a celestial approached the poolside.

To be interrupted in the middle of spiritual extraction is not a pleasant experience. The disturbance of one's body draws the spirit back and leaves one in a brief state of physical shock. The goddess, ignoring the painful swirling in her head, got to her feet and turned to face the new arrival.

"Azumi, you shocked me!" the goddess said in surprise, upon recognition of the new arrival. Her advisor and friend would not disturb her at the pool for any small problem. She gazed at the female celestial's countenance, trying to read her expression, "listen, if Sakuro is still refusing, don't push him. He'll move on when his heart is content."

The celestial smiled at the goddess and shook her head, "great Okami Amaterasu," the goddess waved away the formalities impatiently with a hand gesture. Azumi smiled, "Amaterasu, forgive me for interrupting the peace you find here, but I am sure the news I bring will be both of great joy and of great sorrow to you, and I had to inform you as soon as the message arrived."

The swirling in Amaterasu's head subsided and she raised it carefully in curiosity. "A message," she asked, "from whom?"

"It arrived from our lunar-dwelling friends just five minutes ago." A small smirk appeared at the corner of Azumi's mouth which Amaterasu ignored, "I regret to say that the young woman of the tribe, Laila-"

Amaterasu nodded her head impatiently, "yes, yes what about her, has she-" the look in Azumi's green eyes caused Amaterasu to halt in her hasty questioning. A wave of sorrow passed over the goddess. She dropped gracefully to the floor and sat cross-legged on the grass. Her ever-loyal friend knelt beside her and gently placed her hand over Amaterasu's forearm in comfort. Amaterasu smiled at the gesture but could not prevent a tear from escaping her eye. Azumi ignored it and continued to speak, for which Amaterasu was thankful.

"Laila was plagued by a terrible illness. It's a miracle she lasted as long as she did, especially through pregnancy, and it is a tragedy that she was lost in the final moments." Azumi turned to Amaterasu, who gazed blankly through the trees. "I made the same assumption as you Amaterasu. I often forget how easy it is to underestimate the lunar-dwellers' technologies, and you have forgotten about the great joy I told you of." Amaterasu's blank face flickered and she turned to the other woman, who was smiling now.

"She was a plucky one, Laila was, and she managed to make a final request. He was still a few weeks away from being ready to be born but Laila insisted the lunar healers focus their energies and technologies on the unborn child and let her pass away."

A smile broke across the sun goddess's face as she sent a silent blessing to the deceased woman's selfless spirit, wherever it was wandering. It was thanks to her that a hope still remained in Amaterasu's heart. "How is the child?" she asked.

"He hasn't cried once and seems to be taking a long time to settle down into this life outside the womb. Perhaps he senses the loss of his mother and the grief which surrounds him; or maybe he was just born too early, who knows. I do feel sorry for the child, regardless. Nonetheless, he is alive and healthy. He has his mother's eyes, they say," Azumi smirked.

Ignoring Azumi's joking manner, Amaterasu asked, "and what is the child's name?"

"That was Laila's last request. His name is _Ushiwaka_, Waka he will be called." Azumi dropped the smirk and gazed into Amaterasu's eyes, trying to perceive what was in her heart, but she was extremely difficult to read. "So why were the mother and her child of such interest to you anyway, when she first visited? What is it you foresee this premature lunar child to become, the gods' gift to man?" Azumi let out a small laugh at the thought, then adopted a gentler and more sincere tone, "they have you Mother Amaterasu, what have you to worry about that you would place hope in this child, of all creatures?"

Amaterasu shook her head light heartedly. "You presume too much Azumi. Thank you for the message." Azumi bowed her head and left Amaterasu on her own by the pool. "_Waka,_" the sun goddess whispered the name and a smile broke across her lips - just a small smile, but enough to make the sun radiate a new hope into the hearts of all those who saw it.


	2. Chapter 2: Boy

Boy

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><p>"Boy, come here! I need to talk to you!" a man's heavy voice called up the stairs. Had anyone been standing in the upstairs hallway with their ear pressed up against the solitary door there, they might have heard a whisper of a sigh; barely audible, and far too quiet for the voice down below to hear.<p>

The boy in question was sat on the edge of his bed, skinny legs dangling a foot above the ground. He was twirling something around in his hands and examining it intently. It was a curious object, the boy thought, unlike anything he had ever seen before. The artefact was shaped very much like the lightweight metal beams the warriors fashioned their swords out of, but of a foreign material. He examined it carefully, turning it over and over in his hands, memorising the texture.

It wasn't smooth and silvery like the iron and aluminium he was used to, nor was it coarse and colourless like the rock. He dug his nail in one end and was surprised to see it had made a crescent-shaped dent in the surface. The material was something much more fragile than what he was used to, closer to his own skin than the metal and rock surrounding him.

The young boy, ever curious, raised the object to his nose and inhaled. It gave off an unusual scent, a musky and fresh odour. This came as a surprise to the boy, who had never smelled anything like it before, even though he was expecting it to be strange.

All the conclusions the boy could draw confirmed what he already knew, yet couldn't believe: the rough, organic texture; the fact he could damage it with a sharp fingernail; the musky smell and even the warm brown colour – it all suggested this was something alive, or at least it had been.

He'd been told about these species. They lived on the Celestial Plain and on Earth. _Plants_ they were called. They were living things, but they weren't creatures. They didn't walk, eat or talk. They grew by absorbing sunlight and water and they made lands lush, green and beautiful. He'd seen pictures on a tablet before, pictures of earth and he'd been entranced by the alien landscape. They had rocks there too, but even they looked alive. He knew they weren't, but something about the sheen of colour, the way small varieties of plant sprung up in impossible crevices. Everything about Earth fascinated him. The sky there changed colour, from the most shocking azure blue to the familiar deep indigo filled with stars, depending on where the sun was. There were bodies of water and all the different names the people of Earth had for them: rivers, streams, pools, springs, lakes, seas and oceans. And of course, there were the plants, the grass, the flowers, and the trees…

Trees. He had read about trees. They were the largest of the plants and they dominated the landscape with their pink blossoms which were blown across the land by a phenomenon called _wind_. They weren't as soft and delicate as other plants, they were tough and durable. They armoured themselves with _bark_, their stalks were called _trunks_ and they were made of a material called _wood_. The people of earth cut down some trees and used the wood to make objects and utensils, much like the Moon Tribe mined the rock and extracted metals.

The idea that something living could be used as a raw material was a concept the boy found difficult to get his head around, yet here he was, sitting in his room of stone walls with a piece of this wood in his hands.

"Waka! If I have to call you one more time, I swear I'm going to…" the boy's father's voice trailed off into grumbling, leaving his threat open for Waka's imagination to invent it for him.

Sighing, the boy jumped off his bed. He pondered the beam of wood for a second longer then he dropped to his knees and crawled under his bed. There was a tile near the wall that was loose, and below it was a tiny hollow, perfect for storing Waka's hidden gems. In the hollow already were a few bits and bobs, nothing that seemed to be of any significance. There were a few sheets of blank parchment folded into a small book, a small orange bead with a swirl design on it and a seed that had been vacuum-sealed away in a small plastic packet. All of these were objects the boy had found hidden away somewhere secret, all of which he had hidden in his clothes and snuck back into his own house, all of which he had sat on his bed examining closely, trying to discover some of the secrets of Earth.

Waka placed the piece of wood in with the other scavenged items and gently laid the loose tile back in place. And with that he rose to his feet, tossed his long golden hair over his shoulder and skipped lightly down the stairs to face his grumpy father.

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><p>Thank you to everyone who has read so far. These two chapters are an introduction of sorts to the story. Now that they're done I'll set to work outlining plots.<p>

This is my first fanfic for about four years and I'm unfamiliar with things around here. But I'll do my best. Help, feedback, suggestions and criticisms are always welcome.

Basically, I found that in the game _Okami_, the lack of insight into the Moon Tribe and the Celestial Plain was frustrating. I'm hoping to create those worlds myself.

My favourite character of the game is Waka; I found him to be a very intriguing personality. I'm hoping to follow his development as a character both on the moon and during his time spent the Celestial Plain, staying as true to the histories in the game as possible.

I haven't yet thought too far past these two chapters but I do think they are on the short side and I will be writing longer chapters than this.

Thanks again if you've read. Please review and I hope you'll enjoy the story. =)


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